Reasons for Breast Reduction Procedures

There are many reasons (many of them personal) why one might elect to undergo breast reduction surgery. In some cases, the patient is seeking physical relief from pain and discomfort. In other cases, the reasons are largely aesthetic. However, in a great deal of cases, the reasons are both physical and aesthetic. That's one reason that breast reduction is quite popular.

Why Do People Get Breast Reduction Surgery?

When it comes to less talked about plastic surgery procedures, breast reduction is definitely up there. We don’t really talk about it a whole lot. And yet, breast reduction helps a huge number of women every year feel better about their bodies, feel more comfortable in those bodies, and eliminate a lot of pain to those bodies. In other words, breast reduction surgery does a lot of good to a lot of people. Let’s figure out why.

Determining Why People Get Breast Reduction Surgery

We live in a world where it might seem odd to want a breast reduction procedure. After all, isn’t bigger always better? Well, and this will probably only shock our male readers, it turns out that larger breasts are not always desired. In fact, larger breasts carry with them some pretty serious downsides.

To be sure, big breasts are popular. Breast augmentation as a procedure is performed well over 200,000 times every year in the United States alone. However, it should be noted that this does not necessarily mean that every person is going to want larger breasts. In fact, the ability to control the size of the breasts through the use of plastic surgery is good news.

Because it means that those who want a breast reduction procedure can often get one. But let’s take a minute to look at some of the reasons why people might get breast reduction surgery.

To Get Rid of the Pain

One of the primary reasons why patients decide to get a breast reduction procedure is to mitigate pain. When breasts are overly large for the frame of a patient, the increased size and weight can cause severe neck and back pain. This pain can be chronic and it can lead to other issues down the road (such as chronic headaches). Reducing the size of the breasts is an effective way to mitigate this issue.

Perhaps it’s important to mention that it’s not so much the size (measured in volume) of the breasts that is the issue, but rather the weight of the breasts. The increased weight causes some serious issues over time—it’s like carrying around a little bit of extra weight every single day. The strain on the back and the neck inevitably lead to pain.

It’s not surprising, then, that many patients want to eliminate that pain. Breast reduction procedures effectively do that.

To Feel More Comfortable

In some cases, women get breast reduction procedures performed for the same reason they get breast augmentation procedures performed: they want to feel comfortable in their own bodies. It should come as no surprise, unfortunately, that women with overly large breasts often feel that those breasts become the center of attention.

This was certainly the case with Modern Family star Ariel Winter, who complained that—even when she was underage—her breasts drew a lot of unwanted attention. Breast reduction is a way to bring your body into alignment and into proportion. For many patients, the aesthetics are quite an important aspect to this procedure.

And it’s important not to underestimate that importance.

To Get a Breast Lift Too

That’s why we’re happy to talk a little bit about breast lift. Many patients who get a breast reduction procedure do so because, over time, their breasts have developed extra tissue (it’s a combination of age and gravity). The point of a breast reduction, then, is to return the breasts to a more youthful basic size.

However, the procedure is often coupled with a breast lift to also restore the breasts to a more youthful looking position. A breast lift is designed to make the breasts look perkier—with a more outward facing orientation. In other words, the idea is to make the breasts look more like they did in your youth.

The combination of breast lift and breast reduction procedures is often quite potent way to make the body look younger. Patients love the results!

Getting the Body You Want

Whether you’re looking for larger breasts or smaller ones, the idea behind a breast reduction is the same as that behind many other plastic surgery procedures. The idea is to get the body you want. In many cases, women want to get the size of their breasts reduced in order to be more physically and more emotionally comfortable with their bodies.

Really, at the end of the day, that’s good enough for us. If you’re interested in breast reduction procedures, how they work, and what they can do for you, it never hurts to discuss your options with a highly qualified plastic surgeon. Breast reduction is often covered under health insurance options—so that helps even more patients get this procedure.